Carrying Someone Else’s Business Cards With You

Surely, if you are in business, you are in the habit of carrying your business cards with you wherever you go. You never know who you will meet when you are out, and whenever you meet people, you never truly know who that person is or who that person might know. You are always ready to pass your business card along to someone who might be a future client or customer if you have a stack of your business cards with you. But even though the prudence of carrying around your own business cards is well-known and widely-accepted, far fewer businessmen and businesswomen ever consider the prudence of carrying around business cards that belong to other people. This can be a very beneficial practice, and here are just a few of the reasons why.

When you are dealing in business, conversations with strangers are golden. Each opportunity for conversation with a stranger might be the opportunity that will open brand new doors for you. But a stranger is likely to be turned off right away if they think you are striking up conversation with them just to sell them something. Naturally, people are protective of their money; they don’t want to talk to you if they think you’re trying to get some of their money in your pocket! But with business cards that belong to others, you are always equipped with great conversation starters. You might be at the movie theater when you hear someone talking about how they really need a plumber. If you are equipped with your favorite plumber’s business card, you have an open door to slide into the conversation. “Excuse me, but I heard you say you need a plumber; here, take this business card – it’s for the guy we use on our house; we have always been really happy with his work!” In this way, you have now become a part of their conversation, and you never tried to sell them anything at all. The conversation is sure to cycle back around to you, and to what you do for a living.

Furthermore, people are far more likely to remember someone who helped them out without any reason to do so. Whenever the conversation does come back to you, you are sure to give away one or two of your own business cards. And you will have yourself a new customer the next time something arises in this person’s life that you might be able to help with.

This might seem like a small step in improving your business, but you never know what “small step” might turn into your next big thing.